Kamogelo Seekoei

Kamogelo Seekoei

Preserving the past can help future generations learn about their history so they do not repeat the same mistakes made by their forebears.

This was said by various speakers at the launch of a three-day meeting between officials of Constitution Hill and Monte Sole Peace School Foundation of Italy.

Also, in trying to teach communities about their history through heritage sites, the International Coalition of Historic Site Museum of Conscience has initiated an exchange programme through which members of the coalition can learn from each other, regardless of their different histories.

Constitution Hill and Monte Sole Peace School Foundation, with their different histories and contexts, met to exchange views on how to inspire democratic engagement.

Monte Sole preserves the ruins of a village destroyed in a Nazi massacre and Constitution Hill preserves an old apartheid prison.

The two sites seek to connect young people to the injustices of the past and encourage them to fight for justice in the future.

During her address, Judge Kate O'Regan of the constitutional court said it was important that the court was placed in an old apartheid prison.

"It is profound and shows that we do not only want to keep the status quo but we seek not to forget the past in order not to repeat it," she said.